Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 October 2026
396. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Social Protection the specific action he is taking to move school meals (details supplied) towards a model where meals are cooked from fresh raw ingredients from scratch in one kitchen, and away from the current predominant ‘assembly and reheat’ model used in the Irish school meal programme. [69735/26]
View answerAll 3,200 primary schools and 550,000 children are eligible for hot school meals. Across all meal types there some 3,700 schools and 682,000 children are eligible for support. This equates to the distribution of up to 3.4 million school meals per week. 11 Meals on Wheels providers are currently supporting 40 schools in the Hot School Meals scheme.
The vast majority of primary schools in Ireland do not have on site food preparation or catering facilities. The Report on Nutrition Review of the Hot School Meals Scheme, found that only a small proportion of schools audited operated a fresh on-site kitchen model.
The School Meals programme is designed so that meals are provided by contracted food business operators. This ensures responsibility for food safety and legislative compliance is placed on these professional providers and not on the schools themselves. This also ensures children benefit from a reliable, high-quality service, while schools are protected from having to take on responsibilities more appropriate to the providers, who will have the necessary expertise and experience in food provision.
The recently published Report on Nutrition Review of the Hot School Meals Scheme examined the different catering systems in operation. The review found that hot-drop delivery models, particularly where meals are cooked fresh and delivered hot to schools, were associated with higher quality meals and lower levels of waste. The report recommends that food catering systems be reviewed to assess which models most consistently meet the programme's required nutrition standards
My Department is considering the recommendations of the Nutrition Review as part of its ongoing work with the Departments of Health and Education and Youth through the Interdepartmental Working Group on School Meals. Any future changes to procurement guidance will need to take account of nutritional standards, value for money, food safety requirements, school infrastructure constraints and the need to ensure that meals can be provided to children in schools across the country
Accordingly, there are no plans at present to mandate a single catering model; however, the findings of the Nutrition Review will inform future policy and procurement developments in the School Meals Programme.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
